In pretty much every situation I've ever been told thank you, I've felt that "No Problem" is a much better representation of how I feel than "You're Welcome".

ive worked customer service for a few years now and I don't really ever say "you're welcome." I dunno why but I just say "have a nice day/evening/night"

I feel out of the loop. Not sure if it's me just getting old or not understanding social nuances, but this all feels like people drawing lines and taking sides on something that's going to vary based on cultural background, age of peers, personal experiences and idiosyncrasies, etc. I don't feel like it's a good situation to have two (or more) sides each claiming that it's offensive to them if someone who doesn't know them responds using a different side's preferred response. Kinda puts customer service workers in an impossible situation.

I reflexively say "thanks" when another human does something for me, and I don't particularly care what their habituated response is. Especially for people working customer service, who are just getting through their day and running their script. Mostly people echo the response that they're used to hearing from others, so unless I have some reason to think they're being snarky...??? Your noncommittal phrase of thanks received a noncommittal response, and both parties can move on from the exchange and do something else with their time and energy.

Interesting. I'll have to find some of these videos. I worked customer service in the early 2000s. We were trained to never let a customer be in a situation where they would need to say "thank you," and that we should thank them. This was in Canada, by the way. If we did get a thanks, we would never say, "you're welcome." We would say something like, "don't worry about it."

In France, where I live now, in some of the situations mentioned in the article the response would be a simple "c'est moi," meaning, "it's me who thanks you." In a restaurant setting the waiter might just answer with "bon appétit."

Thanks for this share, because I teach international business and communication and this will be an excellent subject for discussion.

I was a bit offended by tourists doing that mmhmm thing until I found out that it's considered polite in the US.

I was interpreting it as "yes I know you are thankful to me, and so you should be! By the way, I'm an oaf."

Depending on context I tend to respond with:

• No problem (they seem to think it will in fact be a problem like if someone at work asks for help on something nobody wants to do)
• All good (they're exasperated after the fact and worried I might be too and am judging them)
• Any time (some simple thing they're just saying thanks out of habit)
• Of course (usually said in a softer tone, empathetic/reassuring response to let them know I'm here for them)
• Yep (fuck you don't ask me for anything again)

@elfpie Somewhat tangential, but this sort of thing is why I almost categorically disregard any review that primarily complains about how "rude" staff was. More often than not this seems to translate to "acted in a way not exactly in line with my cultural and generational norms" or "didn't give me exactly what I wanted." Give the underpaid service workers some slack.

This is the most non-issue article I've seen in a long time. We're apparently seeing a language shift between generations and the argument really comes down to "kids these days". If retailers thought this was important, they'd set a policy on it.

Huh, I didn't even know this as someone born and raised in the US. I do say "no problem" or "no worries" a lot more than "you're welcome" these days, but I do tend to use the latter in more formal situations. I do think an "mmhmm" might strike me as cold or condescending. Then again, I've been out of the country for the better part of a decade now.

I mean I don't really cater my responses to other people's expectations. It seems a bit silly anticipating a reaction to such a simple exchange.

That's interesting, as a British English speaker "your welcome" to my ear sounds quite American - that may be just me. I'd be more likely to say "no problem", "no worries", or "don't worry about it".

Lotta millennials grew up with parents using 'You're welcome' as a passive-aggressive reminder to be polite

Like, literally...